Auto Express 1737

Visit autoexpress.co.uk for all the latest new cars news IT’S well known that kids’ pester power can play a big part in car buying, but pets, too? As you can see from the picture above, Sky the Goldendoodle has to be happy in any car I live with. And given that my wife and I are considering what car we invest in next, Sky will play a very big part in the decision – she’ll probably come car shopping with us, too. This week, Sky and I spent some time with MINI and the people at Dogs Trust, learning not only how to keep pets safe and comfortable in cars, but also how MINI is training its dealers to be dog-friendly. It’s a smart move in my book; as a…

@JPBrods ● New-look supermini and SUV will be in showrooms next year ● Ranges will include EVs alongside conventional petrol models “How the pair look will come to define the next generation of Citroens, with a style evolved from the C5 Aircross” SMALL cars are a huge part of Citroen’s history. And while the French brand, like many rivals, has had to pull out of the city car segment, it’s drawing up plans for a twin assault of supermini-sized new cars, with replacements for the C3 hatchback and C3 Aircross SUV coming next year. “If the question is ‘are we going to renew our B-segment cars within Citroen because they are not electric?’, the answer is yes and yes and yes,” Citroen’s head of product strategy, Laurence Hansen, told Auto…

SMALL cars have been the bedrock of Britain’s car-buying habits for decades. Our tight towns and cities, and narrow lanes mean these models are well suited to Blighty. But what’s the future for them as the world turns towards costlier EVs and makers look to maximise their profits? We’ve taken a look at all the brands that currently make small models – and where they’ll be in the future. A to Z GUIDE TO SMALL CARS ABARTH ABARTH takes Fiat’s 500 and turns it into a hot compact model – and that’ll continue in the EV era. CEO Oliver Francois told us: “Abarth is 500, and the current 500 is born electric – and then there are other models coming [from Fiat], so Abarth will have a derivative of one…

SMALL cars are a big challenge. They’ve always been among the hardest models on which to make a profit, as customers have demanded more ‘big-car’ features, with little or no increase in price. So you can see why some brands are looking at the situation, factoring in the potential costs of electrifying these vehicles – and walking away altogether. They don’t think they can make these cars at a price you’ll want to pay for them. Our breakdown here reveals several trends. Some brands are getting out of the sector imminently; some are ready to sell you a small EV now. Others are planning to introduce them by 2025, by when incoming EU7 emissions rules could make small combustion-engined cars more expensive than EVs anyway. No brand, it seems, has…

● Refinery capacity an issue ● $100-$200 a barrel forecast CASH-STRAPPED drivers hoping that recent falls in the price of crude oil will bring relief at the pumps have been warned to think again. Leading oil data company Vortexa’s chief economist, David Wech, told Auto Express that high pump prices for petrol and diesel are not as closely linked to the price of crude as might be expected. While the barrel price has contributed to rising pump prices, it’s a shortage of refining capacity and low inventories of refined fuel that have led to a spectacular rise in the margin between petrol and diesel pump products and the cost of raw crude – a gap referred to in the oil business as ‘the crack’. “What most people fail to understand…

PREVIOUSLY unseen images show that Volkswagen was working on a second-generation Phaeton limousine before the project was canned in 2016. Pictures reveal that the project got as far as a production-quality prototype, with a distinctive grille and straight-edged design. However, with VW switching focus to EVs after the Dieselgate emissions scandal, the Phaeton was withdrawn completely. VW has shown the car to mark 20 years since the unveiling of the original Phaeton. The second-generation model, codenamed D2, was based on the MLB platform, which is used by the current Audi A8. As you might expect, the Phaeton is a similar size to the A8, at just over five metres long, and underneath the VW styling cues it’s fairly straightforward to spot the silhouette of Audi’s largest saloon. Inside, the luxuriously…